1. NORTH VERMILION TEST BLITZ
ACT – JUNIORS
PLAN- SOPHOMORES
TEST OVERVIEW AND STRATEGIES

2. Scoring WHY DO I NEED TO SCORE MY BEST ON THE ACT?
NORTH VERMILION SCHOOL PERFORMACE SCORE
TOPS QUALIFICATION
ADMISSION STATUS TO YOUR UNIVERSITY OF CHOICE
PREDICTOR OF COLLEGE READINESS AND SUCCESS FACTOR

3. Scoring
NORTH VERMILION SCHOOL PERFORMANCE SCORE

4. TOPS QUALIFICATION TOPS AWARD – 20 ACT (Could be higher)
TOPS PERFOMANCE – 23 ACT
TOPS HONORS – 27

5. UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS

6. ACT- College Requirements
McNeese
Admission Requirement:
Need no more than one developmental course and ACT composite score of 20 or greater
To demonstrate that developmental English is not required, an applicant must have an ACT English score of at least 18.
To demonstrate that developmental mathematics is not required, an applicant must have an ACT mathematics score of at least 19.

7. ACT- College Requirements
UL Lafayette
Guaranteed Admission Requirement:
ACT composite score of 23 or greater
Require NO remedial courses
To demonstrate that developmental English is not required, an applicant must have an ACT English score of at least 18;
To demonstrate that developmental mathematics is not required, an applicant must have an ACT mathematics score of at least 19
If sub-scores are lower than these numbers, students must successfully complete remedial courses no later than the summer semester immediately following high school graduation

8. ACT- College Requirements
LSU Baton Rouge
Admission Requirement:
The ACT requirement consists of a 22 composite score, with an 18 English subscore and a 19 math subscore.
An ACT of less than 23 is usually thrown out. Average ACT is 26.

9. How ready am I for college?
PLAN AND ACT
How ready am I for college?

10. ACT’s College Readiness Benchmarks
College Course
ACT Subject-Area Test
ACT Explore® Benchmark Grade 8
ACT Explore® Benchmark Grade 9
ACT Plan® Benchmark
The ACT® Benchmark
English Composition
English 13 14 15 18
College Algebra
Mathematics 17 19 22
Social Sciences
Reading 16
Biology
Science 20 23
Here are the benchmarks for all three tests. Notice that the ACT benchmark is 18. An 18 is predictive of student success in relevant college courses. Success is defined as a 50% or higher probability of earning a B or higher in corresponding college courses or a 75% chance of obtaining a C or higher in the college course.
The EXPLORE and PLAN Benchmark scores are indicative of probable readiness for college-level work by the time the student graduates from high school.
From EXPLORE to PLAN should look for a six point growth. EXP 2 EXP 2 PLAN 2 ACT
Success is defined as 50% or higher of making a B or 75% or higher of making a C on an equivalent college course.

11. How Does ACT Figure Out My Score?
First they count the number of questions on each test that you answered correctly.
They do not deduct any points for incorrect answers. (There is no penalty for guessing.)
This means that it does not matter if you are missing questions. It matters that you are getting questions correct.

12. How Does ACT Figure Out My Score?
Then they convert your raw scores (number of correct answers on each test) to "scale scores." Scale scores have the same meaning for all the different forms of the ACT, no matter which test date a test was taken.
Let’s look at an example Conversion Chart.

14. How Does ACT Figure Out My Score?
Your Composite score and each test score (English, Mathematics, Reading, Science) range from 1 (low) to 36 (high). The Composite Score is the average of your four test scores, rounded to the nearest whole number. Fractions less than one-half are rounded down; fractions one-half or more are rounded up.

15. “I never have time to finish the Test!”
Managing Time
“I never have time to finish the Test!”

16. English
The test consists of five prose passages, each one followed by multiple-choice test questions.
Each passage accounts for 15 questions.
A 20 is approximately 46 questions correct.
A student with a goal of 20 should plan to finish 4 passages.

17. Math The test consists of 60 multiple choice questions.
A 20 is approximately 30 questions correct.
Students should NEVER rush through the math problems.
Rushing leads to careless mistakes and missed problems. Finishing does not help if questions are missed.

18. Reading
The test consists of four prose passages, each one followed by multiple-choice test questions.
Each passage accounts for 10 questions.
A 20 is approximately 20 questions correct.
A student with a goal of 20 should plan to finish 3 passages.

19. Science
The test consists of seven passages, each one followed by multiple-choice test questions.
A 20 is approximately 20 questions correct.
A student with a goal of 20 should plan to finish 5 passages.

20. TIME – PLAN AND ACT TEST PLAN ACT ENGLISH 50 QUESTIONS – 30 MIN.
READING
25 QUESTIONS – 25 MIN.
40 QUESTIONS – 35 MIN.
MATH
40 QUESTIONS – 40 MIN.
60 QUESTIONS – 60 MIN.
SCIENCE
30 QUESTIONS – 25 MIN.

21. Basic ACT Strategies Answer Every Question
There is no penalty for wrong answers on the ACT
An educated guess is always best
If you HAVE NO IDEA pick a specific letter and use that letter every time
Educated guess is always better than a blind guess.

22. ENGLISH INFORMATION

23. ENGLISH TEST PREP 75 QUESTIONS/45 MINUTES (9 minutes per passage)
Usage/Mechanics: 40 Questions
Punctuation
Grammar and Usage
Sentence Structure
Rhetorical Skills: 35 Questions
Strategy
Organization
Style

24. ACT English Information
ACT English Grammar
75 multiple choice questions; 45 minutes , 36 seconds per question
Question given in conjunction with a passage
Sentence Structure, Grammar and Usage, Punctuation, Rhetorical Skills
The English section tests not only obscure grammar rules but also punctuation errors as well
ACT expects students to know what they want—It’s more than just pure grammar!
In a series of 3 or more items, put a comma before the “and”
Shorter sentences are preferred to longer sentences

25. ENGLISH TIPS
Answer diction and grammar questions first; they are usually the easiest to answer quickly.
Listen for errors as you read the answer choices. You can often hear an error as you say a sentence in your head.
Read ALL answers carefully; answers often look similar, sometimes differing only by a comma.
“NO CHANGE” is the correct choice about 25% of the time.

26. English
Examine each answer choice and determine how it differs from the others. Many of the questions in the test will involve more than one aspect of writing.
Reread the sentence, using your selected answer.
You will often see the answer choice “OMIT the underlined portion.” By choosing it, you can remove the entire underlined portion from the passage. When an answer choice allows you to “OMIT the underlined portion,” think hard about that option.
“OMIT,” when it appears as an answer, is correct approximately 25 percent of the time. “OMIT” is an attractive (and often correct) answer because it eliminates redundant or irrelevant statements.

27. English
All Usage/Mechanics questions and some Rhetorical Skills questions offer you “NO CHANGE” as an answer choice. Do not overlook “NO CHANGE” as a possible answer to the problem.
It is correct approximately 25 percent of the time it’s offered. If your gut tells you there’s nothing wrong with the underlined phrase, don’t change the phrase.

28. READING

29. READING TEST PREP 40 QUESTIONS/35 MINUTES (9 minutes per passage)
Prose Fiction: 10 Questions
Social Studies: 10 Questions
Humanities: 10 Questions
Natural Sciences: 10 Questions

30. ACT Reading Information
Reading 40 multiple choice questions; 35 minutes, less than 1 min to answer each question
There are 4 types of passages you will encounter on the ACT.
1. Prose Fiction: Most interesting to read, but often the hardest questions! Most time-consuming!
2. Social Sciences: politics, history
3. Humanities: arts, culture
4. Natural Science: Typically the easiest!
8-10-minutes per passage

31. ACT Reading Strategies
Don’t take the test in the order it’s presented! Do the easiest section for you first, because you know you’ll get those right. Save the hardest for last.
Timing is everything! Pace yourself!
You don’t have to read (skim)
Pay attention to distracters. Distracters are designed to distract your way of thinking, break your concentration, and throw you off track.
Translate the question - What are they REALLY asking?

32. READING TIPS
Read the passage actively (3 minutes); underline or circle any key points. Read with awareness of the author’s goal, tone, and theme. (Works for some, not all.)
If a question refers to a specific line of the passage, read one line above and below the indicated line to better understand the context.
Save difficult questions (such as inferring) for last and answer easier questions (such as vocabulary) first. Note: It is best to finish one passage completely before going on to the next.

33. Reading
Students should NOT read the questions before reading the passage.
The ACT is a timed test. Although it is often a good idea to read questions before reading a passage, there is simply not enough time to do this on the ACT.
Read the passage first and save the questions until you’re done reading.

34. Reading The passages do not have to be answered in order.
Read and answer the questions for the easy passages first.
Be sure to leave the most difficult passage for last. If you are aiming to finish 3 passages, this is the passage that you may not get to read.
When time is short, skim each passage by reading the first and last sentence of each paragraph. Also glance at highlighted words.

35. Reading
Do not attempt to “speed read” the passages. The passages are not long enough to need to do this. If you speed read, you probably will not gain enough depth of understanding to answer the questions.

36. Reading
Do not get stuck on one question. If you get to a question that is very hard and threatens to take a lot of time, place a mark next to it, skip it, move on to the next question, and come back if you have time.
You should not, however, move on to the next passage while leaving a blank question behind you. Answer all questions dealing with a passage while the passage is still fresh in your mind.

37. MATH

38. MATH TEST PREP 60 QUESTIONS/60 MINUTES (1 question per minute)
Pre-Algebra/Elementary Algebra
24 Questions
Intermediate Algebra/Coordinate Geometry
18 Questions
Plane Geometry/Trigonometry

39. ACT Math Information 60 multiple choice questions; 60 minutes
1 minute per question!
Algebra I and II, Arithmetic, Geometry, Trigonometry
This is 7th-11th grade math
It’s the wording in the question that makes this section difficult
Only four Trig problems, but two can be done without having even learned Trig! They are out to intimidate you!

40. ACT Math Strategies
Know how to estimate- this will improve your efficiency and score!
Learn how to use a calculator – graphing functions and matrix problems
Be sure to eliminate the wrong answers
Follow your personal order of difficulty – start with your easiest section
Read the question carefully – they predict where students will misread the question– you can count on that answer as being one of your choices – they do this to trap students
Have you ever heard the saying “Not even in the same ballpark”? Ball parking is a fancy way of saying estimating

41. Math
There are 9 Intermediate Algebra and 4 Trigonometry questions on the test.
Focusing on advanced concepts (Quadratic Formula, Trig Identities) is not the best use of time.
There are 14 Pre-Algebra and 10 Elementary Algebra questions on the test.
Don’t forget that if a student has an ACT goal of 20, they need approximately 30 questions. 24 of these questions come from material that they learned in 8th grade mathematics.

42. MATH TIPS
Draw a picture if one is not provided. Figures given are not drawn to scale, so mark them with given measures or symbols.
Know the following translations: of means multiply and per means divide.
Know the area and perimeter formulas for triangles, rectangles, and circles, and how to find the volume and surface area of a box.
If a problem is given in terms of fractions, decimals, or percents, consider using an alternate form to find the answer.

43. MATH TIPS
If the question and/or answer set are given in terms of variables only, substitute simple numbers to help determine the answer.
Most answers are listed from least to greatest, so you can use a technique called backsolving to find the correct answer.
Do not overuse your calculator! The test is written so that every problem can be solved without a calculator. Set up the problem in your test booklet first and take a moment to consider what a reasonable answer would be before using the calculator.

44. SCIENCE

45. SCIENCE TEST PREP (5 minutes per passage)
40 QUESTIONS/35 MINUTES
(5 minutes per passage)
Data Representation: 15 questions
Research Summaries: 18 questions
Conflicting Viewpoints: 7 questions

46. ACT Science Information
Instead of calling it Science Reasoning, think of it as Technical Reading.
Basic understanding of the scientific method will help you
Not much science knowledge is needed
Read and understand charts and graphs
Opposites – when a student encounters 2 answer choices that are direct opposites, one will almost always be the correct answer.
The last section which we haven’t covered is the Science Reasoning section on the ACT. As mentioned before, this section doesn’t actually test any real knowledge of Science.

47. SCIENCE TIPS
If a passage seems difficult, skip it; data representation passages are often the easiest.
When reading passages, aim at a general understanding on the first reading and do not dwell on a specific aspect of data. If the passage contains conflicting viewpoints, consider similarities and differences between the scientists’ arguments.
When reading tables and charts, focus on labels, trends in data, and maximum or minimum values. Look for connections between multiple data representations.

48. Science
The ACT Science section does not test knowledge of science. It tests ability to deal with science
Students have to interpret charts, understand the design of experiments, and resolve disputes between competing theories.
Students need practice reading and answering questions about scientific articles/passages.